Just as an aside, you should really watch Totorro again, Jonathan. It’s very purposely paced to capture how children think and interact. But I think it’s as adult as they come. Sure, it’s about children, but it’s not the least bit childish. It’s ultimately a movie about coping with death and loss.
Now I have no idea how the cat bus is supposed to figure into there, but I’m sure Kitsune can explain that it’s an integral part of Japanese mythology, probably like Santa Claus is to kids in, say, Wisconsin.
I don’t think the problem is that video games or anime or whatever, is less mature, or less ‘real’ than most mainstream, or adult, media - whether it be books or movies or tv shows.
Its not that you are undervaluing games or anime, it is that you are overvaluing other types of media. I mean have you been to the movies lately, or turned on the tv? Most movies and tv shows are aimed at people with an IQ lower than that of a fucking five year old. Yes there are more exceptions in tv and movies, stuff that is generally aimed at a more mature audience, with more complex themes and story lines. But they are still exceptions rather than the rule.
I love shooting aliens in the faces and cutting shit up with magical swords, and I hated the terrible, awful paragraph - and more especially the obnoxious Roberta Williams tone - but it’s right. A lot of that shit is embarrassing and it’s nice to have something different.
I don’t understand what you guys are talking about. Are you speaking the anime market in the US as compared to the American television and movie industry?
I’m not talking about LOTR winning Oscars. You can have standouts in any genre, of course. I’m talking about a hypothetical universe in which 90% of movies are Red Sonja or The Scorpion King.
The part that annoys me most is that it doesn’t even make sense. If you want to be holier than thou about video games, fine, there’s always a place for the condescending asshole. But how does one “holster [their] plasma riffle”? There’s the misspelled “rifle” which I’ll overlook since I don’t really honestly expect video game reviewers to be able to spell properly or editors to take any more than a cursory glance at what gets written. But “holster” a rifle? The imagery doesn’t even make any sense. You might “sling” a plasma rifle, or you can holster a plasma pistol, but the author couldn’t be arsed to think up an action which was actually plausible. And then after making fun of dorks that like elven tights and magic swords and shit – which is a perfectly valid avenue of crappy stereotypical writing – he says he doesn’t want to see anymore “linebackers in Robocop costumes”. What the fuck does that even mean? Is he talking about Madden? Is there some big series of futuristic American football I’ve never even heard of where the players wear cyber armor or something? And even then, how does one compare Madden with any of that gay fantasy shit? Madden is like the epitome of mainstream non-nerdy gaming. It makes absolutely no contribution to his smarm in any context.
I think he condescends fantasy/scifi stuff so much, he can’t be bothered to even describe it right. And to be fair, you just sounded like a star trek geek explaining how the deflector dish shunting neutrinos would have fried Picard in episode 65.
I think for someone to describe anime as mostly not mature clearly doesn’t understand what anime is to Japanese culture.
And as far as anime imported to the US, not really sure you can look at Cowboy Bebop, or Stand Alone Complex, or any other adult-themed shows and say they lack the maturity of US or Brit television.
It’s probably not because the themes and settings explored in anime and videogames feel relevant and rewarding to the general population.
No, unfortunately it is. Jonathan makes a good point. Grave of the Fireflies was 18 years ago. If someone can name an anime that even comes close to being as mature and emotionally effective I’ll be shocked(and grateful). And as great as Grave of the Fireflies is, the main character is still a teenage boy.
Nobody would even try to make an anime Apollo 13 or The Station Agent. For whatever reason the medium has not produced very many works about adult characters in the real world.
Which isn’t to say that the review is good. That review is a terrible piece of shit.
In the present, however, I can already hear the haters picking Bully apart like ravenous vultures. Haters: “The camera sucks! It’s squirrelly indoors and too slow when you’re on a skateboard or a bike.” If a less-than-perfect camera kills your Bully buzz, perhaps you should stick to 2D games. Haters: “Shop class is too hard! Chemistry is too easy! How come “ginormous” isn’t a valid word in English class?!” Yes, perhaps the class minigames in Bully aren’t as deep and satisfying as a Ninja Gaiden session, but they go a long way toward developing the game’s sense of place. You’re in school, after all. Go to class. Haters: “The stealth missions are crap!” They may be stupid-simple, but at least they’re forgiving, thanks to the tell-all radar. And are you saying you’d rather not go on a panty raid in the girls’ dormitory?
Rule Number 1: Do not use the word “haters”, in any context, at any time.
And as far as anime imported to the US, not really sure you can look at Cowboy Bebop, or Stand Alone Complex, or any other adult-themed shows and say they lack the maturity of US or Brit television.
There are definitely more recent examples, namely all of Miyazaki’s and Studio Ghibli’s work. Which has been great all through the 90s and 2000s so far.
That’s true in this country, but how much of that is just cultural attitude? The top two highest grossing films of all time in Japan are animated features. I’d say that’s fairly mainstream.
By your own admission you’d dismiss Grave of the Fireflies for having a teenager (kid) in it.
In fact, you know, The Wire isn’t a mature, adult-oriented powerful TV show because it has a bunch of kids in it.
Has child-like AI entities in it, who exhibit just as much curiosity and humanity as any human. Tachikomas are in the show for a reason, and it’s not for the kiddie audience.
